4. How do you Read

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4. A major theme in the book is the differences in how individuals read. In Chapter eleven, seven readers discuss how they read. Choose one of these readers to identify with and explain how your style of reading is either similar or different.

[Diane]

I think I identify most with the fourth reader, although I can relate to elements from some of the others, especially the first and the sixth. I am typically not a re-reader, except in certain circumstances, so I don't identify as well with those readers.

[Anita]

I definitely identified the most with the 6th reader. Like Diane, I do not re-read. The sixth reader says:

"The moment that counts most for me is the one that precedes reading. At times a title is enough to kindle in me the desire for a book that perhaps does not exist. At times it is the incipit of the book, the first sentences . . .In other words: If you need little to set the imagination going, I require even less: the promise of reading is enough."

[Kristel]

I found myself identifying with more than one of them. The first reader who's mind wanders (I certainly do that and it takes me along time to read because of it), like the second reader, I do sometimes have to dig around the nuggets. I am not a rereader but in the past year or two I have started doing some rereading and there is merit in it, it is something I try not to do as there are too many books I want to read. I also find myself seeing connections between many of the books I've read as my review of this book shows. I often find myself thinking this would be a good book to read with these other books as a study of a subject. I also find myself trying to remember books I've read in my childhood but too little to enable me to find it again. And finally, I think I am most like the 6th reader. I think I might be more in love with the idea of reading. I often like to walk through a book store and just enjoy the many books, the cover art and fonts, etc. The reading through reviews/lists and compiling lists and stacks of books that I want to read each month is sometimes more enjoyable than the actual reading.

[Pip]

I remember there being a section about where you are physically when you read? Am I right? I almost bought the book again to check my memory of this. The was a description of someone who likes to lie down to read and that was me. But I may be misremembering. I no longer have this book because I went through a period of thinking I could give away all our possessions and just live out of one suitcase and travel the world. I started by giving away my favourite books, and this was one of them. Was I successful? We now have three properties which gives us just enough room for all the books, so definitely NO!

[John]

Like Kristel, I saw myself in many of the readers, but probably most in The Reader - who sees each story as a story in itself, who reads a mix of fiction and nonfiction. I am definitely not the reader who saw all books as just parts of some uberbook, though like Kristel I see connections between many of the books I read.